Work Text:
“Not bad, five points.”
When an injured Aventurine entered the apartment, he heard his favourite professor grading tests. Limping through the entrance, he made way towards the bathroom, where he could grab some gauze to patch himself up.
“Zero points, next!”
There was, however, a great obstacle in his way, the open door to Ratio’s office. He would need to keep silent as a shadow, a skill he was proficient in, despite his flashy appearance. Although that was only when he was in good shape. And now was not such a time.
Lightheaded from the bloodloss, he lost balance. His left hand shot towards the wall, desperately trying to regain his footing, but as he made contact with the wall, he winced. The cut in his arm prevented him from putting any strength in it. He fell.
Drawn by the noise, footsteps approached.
“That’s quite a state you’re in, gambler.”
He helped Aventurine up and sat him on a sofa in his office. As he was about to exit the room, he stopped for an instant.
“Stay still, I’ll bring the first aid kit.”
Coming back with a white and red box, Ratio put it down and started helping Aventurine take his shirt off.
“So, what happened this time?”
“Nothing, just an incident. A group of dissident tried to interrupt our negotiations with the Overseer. Taking the hit in his place made him way more agreeable to our terms, so it’s a win-win, he lives, I get a good contract.”
“How many times have I told you to be more careful? Don’t move, it will sting.”
“Come on, a small wound for the monopoly on his planet’s resources. It’s a smal- ouch! Careful doc.”
“Just grit your teeth.”
Despite the harsh words, Ratio slowed down.
“Anyway, I’ll be good to go after a night of sleep and then it’s back to work.”
“I don’t think so, no. You will take a week of rest. I’ll warn your supervisor.”
“Don’t bother Jade with that, I’m perfectly fine.”
“You are not. Your choice doesn’t matter here, now rest, I have more tests to grade.”
Hearing this gave Aventurine an idea, he’d just have to play his cards right.
“Can’t defy the doctor’s orders, huh? Then let’s make a bet.”
“A bet? Are you delirious from bloodloss? You are in no state to gamble right now.”
“Don’t worry, it’s something I can do while recovering.”
“Let’s hear it, then.”
He managed to catch his interest. Now, all that remained was getting him to agree.
“During this week of rest, you will teach me whatever your students were being tested on. On the last day, I’ll go through that test and we’ll see if I can pass or not. What do you say?”
“And what do you wager?”
“If you win, I swear to never defy your medical opinion and follow your prescription to a tee. When I win, you’ll have dinner with me in that new restaurant I wanted to try.”
“You do not seem to get much out of it. I agree, however, your test will not be the exact same to prevent you memorising the questions. Not that you would either way since every test is personalised.”
He got him. Same time next week, Ratio will be footing the bill at one of Pier Point’s best 5 star restaurants.
The next morning was his first lesson. Ratio even took the time to set up a blackboard in Aventurine’s room. Speaking of the IPC’s senior manager, he was to remain in bed until Ratio deemed him healed enough.
“The subject you will be studying during the coming week is Foucart’s Pendulum, a way to prove that a planet is spinning without leaving it’s surface. It was a physicist from the Lilial system called Laurent Foucart that discovered and publicised it the earliest.
Do you have any question before we start?”
“None at all, now go on Doctor, I’m all ears.”
“Then let’s start your lesson.”
The next few hour were… headache inducing for Aventurine. While he could listen to Ratio’s voice for hours on end, actually trying to understand advanced concepts without a solid base in physics was a great challenge. Still, he had a bet to win so he held on.
Fortunately, at lunch time came the opportunity to rest for a bit while eating Dr Ratio’s homemade meal. The food was selected and prepared with care, white, fatty fish alongside grilled spinach and two slices of walnut bread. For dessert, there was a small, dark chocolate bar. As for the drinks, Ratio gave him both a glass of water and a cup of coffee. Aventurine didn’t know it, but those ingredients were all carefully picked for their positive effect on the brain as well as for giving the right nutrients for a good recovery.
As the meal came to an end, Ratio collected Aventurine’s platter.
“The next lesson will be tomorrow morning, I advise you study what I taught you today in the meantime. Now then, I’ll see you at dinner.”
“You’re leaving already? And here I thought you would be teaching me from morning to night. What a disappointment, I might just cry from the neglect~.”
Unfazed by Aventurine’s teasing tone, the doctor walked away.
“Need I remind you I am an educator? I will be teaching classes this afternoon. In case of emergency, just shout, I’ll be in my office.”
With a slight chuckle, Aventurine took the tablet he had left on the bedside table and started reviewing the notes he took in the morning.
“Now I just have to remember what in the world ‘x dot dot + i y dot dot + two i big omega z times x dot + i y dot + small omega 0 squared times x + i y equals zero’ means.”
The following days were quite the challenge for both teacher and pupil. Aventurine had to learn years of physical and mathematical concepts in a week while Ratio had to actually teach him all of that in such a short time. Despite the doctor’s disposition to teach anyone willing to learn, his patience wore thin on a few occasions, sometimes making a harsher quip slip by, immediately followed by a reserved, yet sincere apology whenever he thought he went too far.
But thankfully for them, these days were over. Today was the big day. Would Aventurine win or would Ratio do so? The question would be answered with this test. As promised, it was a test made especially for Aventurine, neither harder, nor easier than the ones his students got.
Truthful to his teaching philosophy, Ratio had written the question so to let the student display his strengths in the beginning before finishing with trickier questions relying on the student’s weaknesses.
For Aventurine, the two hours of exam were far too short and a thought traversed him.
‘Have I finally reached my limit?’
But he was not one to give up that easily. And anyway, what’s done is done, no need to overly worry about it.
“Here doc, have a look.”
His singsong tone was typical of him whenever he felt pressure during a gamble. The doctor knew it well but didn’t comment on it, he had seen students in worse shape after exams after all.
He took the paper sheets and got to correcting. Since the examinee was in front of him, he refrained from his usual out loud criticism and swiftly went through the answers.
After a few minutes, he was done correcting and raise his gaze, looking at Aventurine’s magenta and cyan eyes.
“Well colour me surprised, you actually managed to pass, if barely. Congratulations, you have got 73 out of 100 points.”
“It’s my win, then. I hope you’re ready to spend your entire month’s salary because I sure am.”
“Very well. I shall free an evening for this dinner of yours.”
Unfortunately for them, the restaurant had already been rented out on the night of the date, leading them to enjoy a stroll through the city while snacking on street food. On a completely unrelated note, the next day, Silver Wolf’s bounty rose by a whopping hundred million credits.